


i wanna dance with somebody

by sahturnt



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alcohol, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Compliant, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Post-Squip, boyf riends — Freeform, but it's happy don't worry!, its a party so whatever that entails, part of a larger storline that i might never write but if i did it'd be right in the middle, poor anxious michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 03:49:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11683407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sahturnt/pseuds/sahturnt
Summary: Michael hates parties and Whitney Houston but loves Jeremy more





	i wanna dance with somebody

**Author's Note:**

> So I wanted to write a good ol' pining Michael multichapter fic, and this would be a scene from it. Let me know if you'd be interested in that? Cool.

Michael pulled his PT cruiser up to the curb down the street from Brooke’s house and killed the engine. He sat there for a moment with his eyes closed and let out a shaky breath, relishing the last few moments of relative silence of the evening. The last time he was at a party was not an amazing experience for him, and even though he knew it wasn’t the same party, or at the same house (which had been burned to the ground), and this time he had his player one by his side instead of ignoring him and essentially possessed by a supercomputer, he still felt the fear ooze into the corners of his mind and the memories and honestly wanted nothing more than to restart the car and gun it back home.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” Jeremy asked gently from the passenger seat, snapping him out of his thoughts. Michael saw the genuine concern in his eyes and felt his heart melt a little. “We don’t have to stay for long. Hell, we don’t even have to go in at all if-”

 

“I’m fine, really,” Michael assured, giving the most convincing smile he could. He wasn’t fine, but he would walk through hell and back if it meant putting a smile on Jeremy’s face, so here he was. A little party was nothing.

 

Jeremy didn’t look entirely convinced, and reached out a hand to squeeze Michael’s. The touch grounded him, reminding him why he was here in the first place: because Jeremy - stupid, adorable, oblivious Jeremy - asked him to be here with him. _The things we do for our best friends,_ he thought, grinning a bit and shaking his head.

 

“Seriously. Let me know if--”

 

“I promise, I’m fine,” he countered again, this time with a genuinely reassuring smile. He popped open the car door and waited for Jeremy to do the same so that he would have to break the contact because Michael would be damned if he let go first. Luckily after just a moment more he did, releasing the pressure on the other’s hand and hopping out into the brisk evening air filled with the thrum of a bass. Michael did the same, coming around the car to meet him before making their way up the walkway towards the open front door together.

 

Michael paused briefly again just before stepping up onto the porch, his hands starting to tremble only slightly. Jeremy, no longer feeling his friend by his side, turned back to see him looking at the ground. He reached back and grabbed Michael’s hand, lacing their fingers together. Immediately, he felt his friend relax. The boy finally met his gaze, and Michael prayed his hoodie concealed the blush creeping up his neck. Jeremy turned back to the party, leading Michael in the door and through the mass of teenagers with red solo cups.

 

Jeremy scanned the crowd as they pushed their way past the grinding bodies of drunk children, passing from one room to the next. There he spotted Christine on a couch with Jenna on one side and Jake and Rich on the other. He waved, catching her attention and eagerly making his way towards them, Michael in tow. He released Michael’s hand, which felt cold now in its absence, and flopped down on an adjacent couch containing Brooke and Chloe, Michael standing awkwardly to the side. Jeremy noticed his obvious discomfort and gestured for him to sit.

 

“C’mon Michael,” he pleaded over the music.

 

And even if Michael still felt out of place with Jeremy’s new friends, he couldn’t say no when Jeremy was asking with that tone of voice and looking at him with those pleading eyes.

 

He gingerly sat on the edge of the cushion next to Jeremy, who smiled at him gratefully before launching himself into the already heated discussion of the latest Star Wars movie.

 

“I’m just saying, it was basically ‘A New Hope’ all over again.” Christine was insisting.

 

“It wath tho not!” Rich insisted. “Totally original thtory-”

 

“Oh come on, there was literally a bigger version of the Death Star!” cried Jenna.

 

“Okay but are we not gonna talk about how Poe is definitely gay for Finn?” Brooke chimed in.

 

Michael tried to follow the conversation for a while, he really did. But the roar of the surrounding party and the sheer number of people to converse with was a little overwhelming. Just a few months ago, he only had one friend, and going from one to none to seven was a little too much for Michael to take in so quickly. He wished he had brought his headphones, itching to pull them over his ears and block out the rest of the world for a little while. Not that it would do much to stop the ever persistent noise of the party; it was mostly just to comfort him, make him feel sheltered.

 

After maybe an hour of pretending to listen to the conversation, Michael leans over to his friend to tell him he’s going to get a drink, and does he want anything. Jeremy turned his head, silently asking if everything was okay. Michael just smiled and waved him off before making his way into the kitchen, which was filled with considerably more light and intoxicated people, as if the alcohol was having trouble diffusing evenly to the rest of the party from where it sat on every counter and tabletop in the room. He tapped his fingers along to the beat of the song as he forced his way to a cooler, hoping to find some Dr. Pepper. Opening the lid of the first cooler, he was disappointed to find that it was almost exclusively filled with Bud Light. He sighed, dropped the lid, and moved to the next cooler. This one thankfully had more variety; mostly Coors, but a few Sprites and Cokes mixed in as well. After a moment’s hesitation he settled on the Coke, opening the can with a satisfying _pop!_ before shuffling through the wide open backdoor into the yard.

 

He stood on the back patio for a moment, enjoying the relief from the stuffy house that was starting to feel a bit like a sauna, what with all the sweat and body heat radiating from the drunk and dancing teenagers. He ventured out onto the grass after a second, being sure to keep his distance from the handful of couples that snuck away to make out by the back fence. Leaning on a glass table set up on the lawn, he sipped his his drink and listened to the roar of the music, which was more tolerable now that a few walls separated him from the likely maxed stereo.

 

The upbeat song eventually slowed to a stop, the few seconds of quiet immediately filled with  voices taking advantage of the break. Then the music started back up, shifting into something more familiar. Whitney Houston started playing from the speakers inside, and Michael tensed up, remembering the last time he heard this song.

 

It was then that he saw Jeremy, only a silhouette against the light coming from the kitchen, making his way towards him across the yard.

 

As he neared, he said, “I was worried about you for a minute there. I thought you’d come back after you got your drink.”

 

Michael placed the can on the table behind him. “Nah, I just needed a bit of fresh air is all.”

 

They were close enough now that Michael could see him in the glow of lights strung up in the tree above them. His could see now that his friend’s brow was furrowed in concern.

 

“Are you okay though? I was scared after I couldn’t find you in the kitchen that you might’ve--”

 

“Locked myself in a bathroom?” he snapped, his voice harsher than he intended. Jeremy flinched, and he felt guilt pool in his stomach. “Shit, I’m-- that wasn’t cool of me. Fuck, I’m sorry,” he said softly, looking at his shoes.

 

Jeremy let out a bitter chuckle “No, you’re fine. And correct.” He paused for a moment. “Do you want to come back inside?” he asked, reaching for Michael’s hand. He started to tug, but when Michael resisted, he stopped, letting his arm go slack but keeping his hand on his friend’s.

 

 _And when the night falls_ _  
_ _Loneliness calls_

 

“Alright then, if you don’t want to come inside, then we’re dancing out here,” he laughed, bringing his arms up to rest on Michael’s shoulders.

 

Michael finally cracked a grin, meeting his gaze only to make a point of rolling his eyes. “You’re such a dork, you know that?” he teased, lacing his fingers behind Jeremy’s waist and swaying with him along to the sound of Whitney’s voice.

 

Jeremy smiled. “You know you can talk to me, right? I know something’s wrong. Something other than just being at a party.”

 

Michael sighed. Jeremy knew him too well, cared about him too much. He knew he couldn’t keep things from him forever. “I just… feel kind of out of place with your new friends, is all,” he admitted after a long silence. It wasn’t all, but some secrets needed to be guarded more heavily than others.

 

His friend chuckled knowingly. “C’mon, is that all?” Michael was again grateful for the dim yellow light that hid the red creeping up his neck. When he didn’t answer, Jeremy continued. “They all really like you, you know? I know it’s a lot all at once, but they do want to get to know you better.” Michael saw his lips tug upwards a bit. “Do you think you could give them a chance?”

 

_Oh! I wanna dance with somebody_

 

Michael leaned forward, burying his face into his shoulder. “Of course I’ll give them a chance. I just miss…” he trailed off, not sure how to put everything that he missed into words. He missed days spent driving and slushies shared and nights holed up in a basement playing video games. He knew it was selfish but he missed not having to share Jeremy’s attention with six other people. He missed the undoubted trust, even though they had talked and worked to rebuild the relationship, there was still something small and tense and unspoken there, keeping things from ever going back to exactly how they were before.

 

“I miss when it was just us, you know?” he said finally.

 

Jeremy’s sigh ruffled his hair. “Yeah, me too.” He wrapped one arm around Michael’s shoulders. “Don’t forget, you’ll always be my favorite person.

 

“Mmph,” he said, breathing the familiar scent of Jeremy’s fabric softener and brown sugar scrub.

 

“How about we hang out more, on our own, like before,” Jeremy suggested.

 

“That would be nice,” Michael reciprocated.

 

_With somebody who loves me_

 

Jeremy pulled back a ways before slipping his hand back around Michael’s and tugging once more to lead him back inside.

 

“Hey Jer?” he said as they stepped back up onto the patio.

 

“Yeah?” he responded, facing him again.

 

“Thanks for coming to get me,” he smiled up sheepishly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

 

Jeremy mirrored the smile with one that lit up Michael’s whole world. “No problem bro. What are friends for?”

 

Maybe Whitney wasn’t so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly thanks for reading my first work in the fandom lol.
> 
> I might write more of this storyline so let me know if you think I should?
> 
> [Find me on tumblr](https://sahturnt.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Have a nice day!


End file.
